This Day in 2006: Infamous Britney Spears 'Dateline' interview with Matt Lauer (June 15)

[PokemonSpears]

On June 15, 2006, NBC aired the now infamous interview of Britney Spears by Matt Lauer, who questioned the singer about her relationship with fame, paparazzi, previous relationships, and motherhood, or as Matt called it, "mommy mistakes".

Britney, while pregnant of her second son Jayden James, invited Matt and the crew of Dateline to her house in California for a rare chat that lasted more than 40 minutes.

In the emotional interview, Britney addresses the way the media has invaded her private life, and Matt asks her about the magazine tabloids and people that judge her actions as a mother of her baby.

Quote

I’m very, very blessed. But my safety, my privacy, and my respect are three things that I feel like are trying to be taken away from me right now. As a mother I have to speak up and say something. I have to speak up.

 

[PlayboyMommy]

...and five days later she would post this on her website

 

[thebritmaster]

Always thought Matt was a jerk in this 

[Dussiniers]

Love you forever Brit. Freedom is coming for you!!! 

[Jordan Miller]

35 minutes ago, PlayboyMommy said:

...and five days later she would post this on her website

 

Oh wow she was pregnant when this went up?! Kinda slipped my mind 

[Look But Don't Touch]

Our pokemon is always prepared  

And Britney is a cutie as always 

[Look But Don't Touch]

25 minutes ago, Dussiniers said:

Gays from Exhale coming out like: 

 

Omg "Gays from Exhale"  It sounds like a movie title 

 

[Britneylandia]

She deserves her freedom and a happy life :(

[NotBuyingIt]

She was so misguided, trapped, and immature here.

She chose Kevin to get away from the Hollywood “fuddy duddy guys” (as she always used to say), yet she was completely stuck in a reality she didn’t know how to break away from. Looking back on it, she needed to get the hell out of the business entirely - even if it meant moving to another country for a few years. This interview should've never, ever happened.

She’s never known how to make decisions in her life because her circumstances are so unusual and unprecedented. What she needs is not a permanent conservatorship, but someone to actively teach her how to handle her life on her own: here's how to deal with loneliness, money, relationships, paparazzi, etc. Of course she struggles with daily choices - who wouldn't in her shoes!

I remember watching this interview as it aired on television. My thoughts were that she sounded far too young and uneducated for her age. I didn’t appreciate back then, however, just how different her reality is from the rest of the world’s, with the exception of a select few who have achieved that particular level of public interest and scrutiny, such as Michael Jackson.

[Jup1ter]

oh gosh, I remember watching it back then, it just added fuel to the media and the general public to trash her even more, they started calling her white trash, Perez Hilton did a lot of nasty memes, this was like one of those moments that shouldn't happen just like Chaotic, but it seems it was her decision to do it, she wanted to be heard so bad she wanted people to feel her and have empathy so she exposed her life so much to the media and the result was not the best, it just added more chaos bc it's more people talking about your life. 

[NotBuyingIt]

23 minutes ago, Dirk said:

oh gosh, I remember watching it back then, it just added fuel to the media and the general public to trash her even more, they started calling her white trash, Perez Hilton did a lot of nasty memes, this was like one of those moments that shouldn't happen just like Chaotic, but it seems it was her decision to do it, she wanted to be heard so bad she wanted people to feel her and have empathy so she exposed her life so much to the media and the result was not the best, it just added more chaos bc it's more people talking about your life. 

So true. With Chaotic, the My Prerogative music video, this interview, paparazzi candids with Kevin, etc., it really was like Britney was trying to say, "This is the real me and I want to be loved for who I am, not some fake image." But the more she fought, the more the world laughed at her.

This is why she's so quiet now.

[MyAccountGotBanned]

Meanwhile, people want her to do an interview now or speak on the conservatorship. Every time she tried to defend herself or speak her truth it backfired and hurt her . So I don’t blame her for not giving anymore real statements about her life … this was Britney uncandid, in her house, she dressed herself, she did this … and sadly it turned into a joke … and the reason is because Britney is a country girl and not some deep intellect , so she’ll never be able to present herself the ways gays and the fan base wants her too  

 

and lastly the most telling part of this interview is how the media’s photos and stories got child protective services to come to her house and for doctors to treat her like a bad mother. Imagine taking your kid to the hospital and them calling child protective services on you because of some tabloid story . That’s heartbreaking 

[Jup1ter]

1 minute ago, NotBuyingIt said:

So true. With Chaotic, the My Prerogative music video, this interview, paparazzi candids with Kevin, etc., it really was like Britney was trying to say, "This is the real me and I want to be loved for who I am, not some fake image." But the more she fought, the more the world laughed at her.

This is why she's so quiet now.

yeah it was really her, but she was adjusting to a simple regular lifestyle bc of Kevin, she was like becoming "trash looking" bc of Kevin, we know Britney tends to mirror the man she's with... but she was also not giving a **** about her popstar image, she was living her life, a simple fun recent married life with a lot of money, it was basically the first time she didn't have to worry about work and her image... she was so young learning how to live, that's why she made some "mistakes", she was living it and discovering it by her own terms, no one to guide her, she wouldn't listen to no one at the time tho bc all she ever did was listen to people, so she had this fresh of breath air to live a life the way she wanted... but of course, it wasn't cute and posh for a popstar like her, it didn't match the perfect image and lifestyle people wanted her to have. 

[Steel Magnolia]

Take a look at what was going on in the background during this time period. It's quite telling...

June 7, 2006 - US Weekly reports that Britney's family has hired a Christian life coach to assist in her decision to file for divorce from Kevin Federline.

Aug. 2006 - During this month, Sweet Jamie Music, Inc., owned by Jamie Lynn Spears, undergoes a Change of Officer.

Aug. 5, 2006 - By now Lou M. Taylor, President of Tri Star Entertainment is representing Jamie Lynn Spears, who appears on the TV show "Zoey 101."

The Tri-Star website lists the staff as including Lou M. Taylor and Mitch Martin.

According to Lou M. Taylor's bio, "I focus on making a difference in our business by operating a life management model that includes a cohesive working relationship with each member of a client’s team to ensure maximum professional support and counsel."

Source:
 

 

[princessmimi]

Man this interview is SO infamous!

Besides Chaotic, this cemented the bad rep of being "white trash".

I actually saw the whole thing for the first time a few months ago on youtube and WOW it was bad!

Someone should've prevented this interview from happening but then again,

she was rebellious and not listening to anybody.

This just made things worse for her

[HairFullOfSecrets]

I liked the interview now, she was a bad ***, sure she could've had professional hair and make up on, but I feel she purposely decided not to have it, just to show people, "you want my looking bad in candids, here I don't care"

Imo this is one of the times she regreted opening up to people, and one of the reasons she's so closed off now (yeah I don't think the cship is exclusively responsible for that)

[Isla]

I try to pretend this interview doesn’t exist. It’s so sad to watch.

[Richie]

Britney was making more sense in that interview than what we've seen her saying the last 10 years. I don't know why you guys say that it was bad? i get that people were on her neck and would attack her for anything she'd said at the time, but really, watch the interview, she's handling it way better than most of us could considering everything we kwow now. 

 

I respect britney for doing it, when she's asked about her child she says let's make this interview about what it is, the paparazzi. 15 years later we need a documentary to say it for her because she no longer can! 

 

all my love and respect to this woman. 

[MyAccountGotBanned]

2 minutes ago, Richie said:

Britney was making more sense in that interview than what we've seen her saying the last 10 years. I don't know why you guys say that it was bad? i get that people were on her neck and would attack her for anything she'd said at the time, but really, watch the interview, she's handling it way better than most of us could considering everything we kwow now. 

 

I respect britney for doing it, when she's asked about her child she says let's make this interview about what it is, the paparazzi. 15 years later we need a documentary to say it for her because she no longer can! 

 

all my love and respect to this woman. 

100% agreed. It’s sad that fans always judge everything based on her looks. Like if she was dressed differently people would think this was stronger than for the record. 
 

if Britney’s current Instagram featured 2001 Britney people would be thinking it’s amazing 

[PokemonSpears]

31 minutes ago, Richie said:

Britney was making more sense in that interview than what we've seen her saying the last 10 years. I don't know why you guys say that it was bad? i get that people were on her neck and would attack her for anything she'd said at the time, but really, watch the interview, she's handling it way better than most of us could considering everything we kwow now. 

 

I respect britney for doing it, when she's asked about her child she says let's make this interview about what it is, the paparazzi. 15 years later we need a documentary to say it for her because she no longer can! 

 

all my love and respect to this woman. 

well, I don't know the others, but what I think most of us think when we say it's bad, is not because of Britney herself, but because of the way Matt Lauer approached her with those topics (kind of like the 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer) and the way it only backfired for her to the eyes of the press and the public, especially with things like when she says that she's country and that driving with babies on their laps is normal if you're from the South.

As you say, she actually handled it very well considering the topics of the interview, everything that she had been going on for years already, the fact that she was pregnant and that also may have make her more emotional or more susceptible, but the fact is that nothing that was said on that interview helped her situation about how the world perceived her, and the proof is everything that happened in the following years and the lack of compassion the world kept showing for her.

The whole thing seemed more like an attempt to expose her for "all her sins" rather than an opportunity for her to change people's minds.